Le Morte de Merlin
by Kitty O
Summary: Deathfic. Songfic. Oneshot. No slash. Merlin's been found out, and he's not getting out of it this time. Revolving POV, my first Merlin story!


_A/N: I heard this song, _Renegade_ by Styx, and as I was trying to think of a good Merlin plot anyway… Yeah. So, this is Merlin's thoughts as that adorable idiot is about to be executed. Burned, by the way, not hanged. Uther, not Lawman. But whatever. One-shot, death-fic, song-fic, no slash, yada yada._

_Okay here's the thing. I don't own Merlin, and I don't own this song. It's kinda old, but great. Is it okay that I used it? I think so, as I'm not making money off of it, besides it's up on the Internet (like Youtube and Lyrics sites and stuff). And I'm not using the whole thing. However, I'm not really sure, so someone please tell me if I'm doing anything illegal, and I'll yank this off so fast it'll make your head spin. Seriously. Please tell me. _

_OOPS! It's not Tom, but Will. I FAIL._

_I would like to add a little note to my reviewer Second Chance, up there, in case you happen to see this: Thank you, I don't take French, you see. I will stop now before the A/N gets longer than the fic._

* * *

_**Oh Momma, I've been years on the lam  
And had a high price on my head  
Lawman said, "Get him dead or alive"  
Now it's for sure he'll see me dead…**_

Merlin squinted against the bright sunlight, his heart hammering against his chest, as though it wanted to be here even less than he did. The world was frozen around him, so he could see every single detail of it. Morgana, up in her room, looked down at him with mocking sad expression. Uther's face, up in his balcony, was the same as always: cold and cruel. Merlin hated the sight of them, but he forced himself to look at those two people who wished him to die. It was better than looking at Arthur or Gaius; both wore an expression of faint horror. Both tried to hide it, but their eyes gave them away.

Merlin knew his eyes gave him away too, and his terror and anguish were obvious to anyone who looked in them. The dark-haired, skinny boy kept his eyes on the ground. He didn't want anyone to know how scared he was, scared of the pain.

Looking back, he couldn't believe he was dumb enough to come to Camelot in the first place. So he hadn't fit in at home. So he felt he was wasting his life there. So what? Here was worse. Here was death and torture and the look of repulsion in Arthur's face when the truth was revealed. Here was where his friends drew away from him as he burned. Merlin had thought himself so safe, so clever as he stayed in hiding under Uther's very nose.

He wasn't. He was a stupid, clumsy boy with a gagged mouth and a bruised body and face from where the soldiers had beat him last night. He was pathetic.

'_Merlin, can't you do anything right?'_ Hadn't Arthur said that enough? He obviously couldn't. Now Arthur would have no great destiny. Now Morgana would succeed in her next plot to destroy Camelot. Now he would die.

And Merlin didn't want to die.

_**Oh Momma, I can hear you a'cryin... **_

_**You're so scared and all alone**  
_**_Hangman is comin' down from the gallows, and I don't have very long…_**

What would his mother say? It would break her heart, he knew that. She would probably blame herself for sending him there. But it wasn't her fault. It was his fault, and Morgana's and Uther's…

Oh, why couldn't they just kill him now? Why must they take so long? Couldn't someone just tie him to that stake, light the fire, and be done with it? He hated this _waiting_.

_**The jig is up; the news is out; they've finally found me  
The renegade who had it made, retrieved for a bounty  
Never more to go astray  
This will be the end, today, of the wanted man  
**_

Arthur couldn't breathe. How can a person look calm when they couldn't breathe? He felt all hollowed out inside, as though Merlin had taken that evil within him and used it to scrape Arthur's flesh away from his skin.

_Merlin…_

Arthur couldn't believe it. If Merlin was so evil, why wasn't the Price already dead? If he was bad, why did he look so innocent and so good?

The person he sometimes almost thought of as a friend was the enemy. How could he ever trust anyone again? It hurt Arthur to think about. What hurt more was looking at Merlin, knowing what was to happen to him. Arthur had seen people burn before, and it gave him nightmares.

They were strangers. Merlin was not. The Prince of Camelot would never recover from today, he was sure of that.

Men dragged Merlin across the square, forcing the scrawny boy up onto the pedestal, tying his hands roughly behind his back. Arthur longed to tell them to show respect, as he had when Gaius had been put up there, but his lips wouldn't move.

Merlin leaned against the unforgiving stake, his eyes cast upward, his eyes filled with tears as he surveyed the sunny sky. He was praying, Arthur saw, though the tight gag prevented him from forming words.

_The gag is necessary, or he would kill someone. He's not the Merlin you thought you knew. He poisoned Morgana; she said as much. You saw him use magic while trying to escape. Hate him. _

Arthur couldn't hate him. He looked away as they lit the fire, his eyes unintentionally meeting Gwen's brown ones. She was looking straight at him, shaking her head, mouthing 'no'. Saying 'please'. There were tears running down her face as she silently begged Arthur to stop this.

Arthur looked away from the woman he loved, his heart sore. Merlin had understood that when Arthur confessed to it. Merlin had even teased him about it. The same Merlin, no matter what Arthur told himself. The same Merlin who was beginning to burn.

_**Oh Momma, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law…**_

_**Never more to go astray  
This'll be the end today  
Of the wanted man  
the wanted man…**_

Merlin was crying. _Oh, please no, _he prayed. _Please God, don't let it hurt so bad… Stop it now…_

The fire burned away the gag as it leapt higher, burned away his clothes and his flesh. He was covered in blood, and he was screaming in agony.

"NO…! NO, STOP IT PLEASE…!" He screamed, he pleaded as his skin burned away, revealing his insides… Which were just like anybody else's.

_**Never more to go astray  
The judge will have revenge today  
On the wanted man…**_

But the thought that this warlock was built of the same blood, same flesh, and same kind of body as anyone else – the irony of it – never occurred to Uther, who had ordered his execution. Uther stayed still, like a stone. Once again he had defeated the evil and kept Camelot safe.

He was unaware of the people who were fixing him with stares of hatred for what was happening.

_**Dear momma I can hear you a'crying…**_

Gaius couldn't stand the screams that filled the air, or the way Merlin's body jerked in torment. He turned away, weeping, his heart broken. He loved Merlin like a son… He'd rather die than see this for another minute.

It was not a mercy of Uther's that he was not executed, too, just for housing Merlin. It was another cruelty. Gaius would rather die. Better than reliving the screams every night of his life.

But they didn't have a choice in this matter. None of them. Not Arthur, not Gaius, not Merlin.

_I hope he haunts them, _thought Gaius venomously. _I hope he haunts them all, Uther and Arthur and Morgana… _

_No, I don't. I want Merlin to go now, to stop hurting and see his father and Freya and Will again. I hope he does. But I hope they all someday see what they did, what they destroyed. What they lost. _

_**The renegade who had it made  
Retrieved for a bounty…**_

Merlin's screams and writhing lasted longer than they would have thought possible, but eventually they petered out, and he stopped suffering. The flames continued to burn.

_**And I don't wanna go,  
Oh no  
Don't let 'em take me  
No no… **_

_A/N: Yes, I know that was way longer than necessary. I'm sorry. What can I say? I'm mean to characters, okay? Please review and tell me what a horrible person I am… But don't forget to tell me how to improve my writing in the future, m'kay?_


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